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The Old Order Amish have been in this nation since the late 1600's living largely as they still do today. What law could we have written in violation of the Constitution's "Free Exercise" clause that would force them to abandon their religious practice? What judge could uphold such a violation? I'm not emotional; just sick and tired of the bullying these peaceful people have endured in my state. We all pick sides. The judge sided with the bullies. I stand with the Amish.

I tend to want to side with the Amish too - my question would be, "What building codes are they supposed to be in violation of?"

I'm thinking we don't have the whole story - why this family and not others in the area? Are the others staying within the bounds of the building codes? If one wants to 100% back religious freedom, one must also concede that Islam must also be catered to in all its ugly facets.

Unless we know which codes are being violated, and what safety hazards they may entail, and why others seem to be in compliance despite their religious beliefs, we can't really make a rational decision - it's all emotional.

The real question is all about the legality of the building codes and whether a provision to exclude some from some of the codes may be in order - that wouldn't be a judge's decision to make if the law is on firm ground.

When the building is inspected, it will fail inspection because it will not contain smoke alarms. There is the violation. Some mention of the septic was made too, but I don't have the details on that; not much was said about it.

It is not a case of "this family and not others". There are six other families in the legal system now, just in the same area, being persecuted on similar grounds. And other potential cases wait in the wings to see how this plays out. If the dam breaks, this will be precedent setting.

I also disagree that we must cater to islam in similar fashion. There was no islamic presence in this nation prior to the Constitution being adopted. And after adoption, the islamic presence was that of an enemy nation with the distinct privilege of being the first to declare war on the newly created United States of America. We don't have to cater, but we can choose to. And we have chosen to cater to the Old Order Amish for 300 years. And, at least at the grass roots level, we still do.